Family says turkey injured dog, chased children before being shot

By Michael Anderson
For the Deseret News

Published: Sunday, Aug. 2 2015 3:07 p.m. MDT

Cellphone video from Davis family shows a turkey going after their dog Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013. The dog suffered lacerations to its face. The turkey was shot and killed by a Box Elder County sheriff's deputy. The family said the turkey was very aggressive and also chased their children. (Davis Family)

CORINNE, Box Elder County — A turkey that chased after children and a dog in Corinne was shot and killed Sunday.

The family who called the Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office to get the aggressive bird out of their yard said it had been antagonizing them for more than an hour, even injuring their dog.

And it wasn’t the first time it’s happened, the family said.

Brady Davis said his family has had problems with the turkey for several weeks, but it reached a breaking point Sunday.

“One of my kids said, ‘Dad, the turkey's coming down the alley way.' And so we were just kind of doing our thing, watching it, and it just kept coming closer and closer," Davis said. "Eventually the dog saw it, got a little curious, went over there, and then the turkey started to go after the dog.”

Amanda and Brady Davis talked about what happened Sunday Nov. 3, 2013, when their dog was injured and a domesticated turkey was shot and killed. They say the turkey was aggressive, chasing their kids and injuring their dog. They turkey belonged to a next-door neighbor. (Mike Anderson, Deseret News)

He said the dog backed off and went back in the yard, but the turkey followed it.

Davis took cellphone video of the domesticated turkey nipping at their dog.

"At that point, we were like, 'This is enough,'" Davis said. “I tried pushing it away and stuff with sticks, and it didn't do much. It would back off and then turn around and come right back."

The turkey didn’t injure the children, but it did injure the dog, Davis said.

“He was bleeding,” Davis’ wife, Amanda, said of the dog. ”He had some lacerations to his face."

The turkey had somehow escaped from its pen in the next-door neighbor’s yard.

Kay Hodges took a picture of a turkey. She said it seemed nice. The turkey was shot and killed Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013, after it chased children and injured a dog. (Kay Hodges)

The Davises said they weren’t equipped to move the turkey on their own, so they called authorities.

A Box Elder County sheriff's deputy responded to the incident, "walked up to it, and it looked like it was going to attack him too,” Amanda Davis said.

The deputy shot and killed the bird.

“He had no other choice, or it would have got him,” she said.

Box Elder Sheriff's chief deputy Kevin Potter said the deputy "did what he had to do."